Poll: Romney gets convention bump among Latino voters

By EMILY SCHULTHEIS

09/03/2012 12:55 PM EDT

New tracking poll data out from Latino Decisions finds Mitt Romney making modest gains among Latino voters after the GOP convention:

After a week in the spotlight in [which] many prominent Latinos took to the stage at the [Republican National] Convention, the impreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll finds a noticeable bump in support for Romney and Republicans among Latinos, as reported by Pilar Marrero. The question will be can they sustain it, or will the new found support erode after the Democrats get their turn in Charlotte. In the second week of the impreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll Romney stands at 30%, up from 26% in week 1, and also improved his favorability from 27/55 (net -28) to 31/54 (net-23). While the clear majority of Latino voters continue to support Obama, this is the first time Romney has managed to climb to 30% of the Latino vote in the 10 months that impreMedia/Latino Decisions has polled on an Obama-Romney match-up.

And/but:

While Romney made some gains following the RNC convention, the gains are relatively small. After their best week of coverage in which Romney and the RNC got to dictate the message, and President Obama struggled for coverage, Romney still maintains a net negative favorability rating of -23 while the President enjoys a net positive favorability rating of +43. And while Romney is inching towards one-third of the Latino vote, the data still suggest that close to two-thirds of Latinos (64%) plan to vote against Romney.

In looking at the question about perceptions of party outreach to Hispanics, the impreMedia/Latino Decisions tracking poll reveals almost no movement in the larger images of either party. One week ago 14% thought the Republican party was doing a good job of outreach to Hispanics, and today that number is 17%. Combined, 72% of Latinos think the Republican party either ‘doesn’t care’ or is ‘being hostile’ towards Hispanics, and that number that will take more than a 3-day convention to move. As Governor Jeb Bush acknowledge during the RNC, Republicans need to stop “acting stupid” and “to have a tone that is open and hospitable,” if they want to win over Latino voters.

Romney was never going to catch up to Obama among Latinos, given the huge lead Obama has with the demographic. But after a convention that certainly had moments and speakers geared toward Latino voters — Marco Rubio introducing Romney, Susana Martinez, and Craig Romney speaking in Spanish, to name a few — it's an encouraging sign for Republicans who hope that the party's deficit among Latino voters in November will be slightly smaller than it's looked so far.